The Feds want to spy on you! - The headline from Detroit News today: U.S. to propose mandatory vehicle 'black boxes' And here's the link: http://detnews.com/article/20110526/AUT ... y-vehicle- Â‘black-boxesÂ’ An ...

An EDR is a device that records vehicle telemetry up to 15 seconds before a crash. This article states that GM has been installing them in light duty vehicles since the mid-90s. Is this what this box is under my front seat? If so, I'm going to remove it.

Last edited by WingNut on May 27 2011, 4:11am, edited 1 time in total.

In 1999 (I think) at the dealership I worked at, a customer bought a new truck but it wasn't ready when he came to pick it up. The sales manager gave him a new C3 to drive for the night to keep him happy, well it was towed back that night without the light pole it was wrapped around and was written off. The customer stated he was doing 40 - 50mph and couldn't make a curve in the road and hit the light pole, when the service manager brought up the information from the "data recorder" it showed a vehicle speed of just over 95mph. Needless to say the guys insurance ended up paying for the new truck.

We are piloting these in our Geek Squad cars (VW Bugs) and some other vehicles we operate. It's produced by a company called Telematics. Our drivers know they are in the cars, but still we find excessive idle time, speeding, etc. The system also measures hard braking events, collision avoidance (steering) maneuvers, and more. It can also be used to track if a vehicle goes outside a planned route, or operates during non-working hours.

I am fine with it on a company vehicle. I'd be pissed if it were used by the gubberment for the "general populace".

GM was the first to offer EDR data. It actually saved them quite a bit of money in lawsuits. Drivers would report sudden acceleration or brake failure caused their accident, then sue GM for a product defect... the EDR data would tell the truth about several of the parameters involving the crash. As far back as 1994, GM started recording: %throttle, %brake, engine rpm, speed in mph, and whether the seat belts were engaged. If someone reported sudden acceleration, and their EDR indicated 80% braking and 0% throttle, GM would be out of the lawsuit after the data was downloaded. (No, I'm not an attorney)

They record a lot more data now... A LOT more!

Not all vehicle manufacturers have made this data available. But by model year ending 2012, all manufacturers must supply the EDR data and Bosch Vetronix will be the only company who has the software and equipment to download it. (No, I don't work for Bosch!) The general public can buy the equipment to download the data.

If you disconnect the EDR box, your vehicle will not start.

If your airbag deploys in a crash (usually 12 -14 mph change in velocity within 120 milliseconds), the data is recorded and locked into the EDR. The vehicle will not start or run until the EDR box is replaced and the airbag(s) are also replaced. The data can be downloaded over and over and it can not be altered.

If there is a "near-deployment" event (where the delta V almost reaches the deployment threshold) the data will remain in the EDR until another "near-deployment" event occurs, or 250 key cycles occur.

This info is only the tip of the iceberg... the website I supplied should answer a lot of additional questions.